Ethiopian ‘apology over textbook blunders’

(BBC)— Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education has apologised for mistakes in school textbooks, state-owned television has reported.

The sixth grade English language textbook wrongly placed Ethiopia’s highest mountain, Ras Dashen, in Tigray Regional State instead of the Amhara Regional State, it quotes an unidentified ministry official as saying.

The official added that a map in a tenth grade textbook on nationality and ethics failed to show the correct location of regional states, the report added.

The sixth grade text book was published in 2004 and the tenth grade book in 2010.

It is unclear why the ministry has made the apology now, but Amhara has been one of the regions recently rocked by deadly protests against the government.

Protesters have accused the government of political and economic marginalisation – a charge it denies.

There have been lots of reaction on Twitter to the apology. One tweeterer shared a picture of the Ras Dashen mountain.